Is my iPod a write-off?

June 27, 2006 1:14 PM

My G4 iPod has crapped out. It's a few years old and was working with no problems for some time. But recently it corrupted a bunch of my songs. I tried reloading and it now crashes my Mac running 10.4 because the move hangs halfway and nothing can be done. Is there anything I can do with this thing?

I ran the iPod diagnostic and it comes out as fine, restored numerous times (HFS), including PC format (FAT) and have run Disk Utility and a PC disk check as well. Everything has come up with no issues (bad sectors etc). There appears to be nothing wrong with the iPod according to the diagnostic and the scans but everytime I try to load anything via the disk mode or iTunes it just craps out really badly; I have left it for over an hour and it never resolved and just stayed there.

I'm not sure whether it's worth buying a HD off the internet if it's something else.

No it's not under warranty anymore.

posted by Napierzaza to technology (8 comments total)

Have you tried the ipod updater (released by Apple periodically as a sort of firmware update)? I wouldn't be optimistic but it's probably worth a shot, even if you already have the latest version.
posted by exogenous at 1:17 PM on June 27, 2006

It sounds like your hard disk is fried. Mine had exactly the same symptoms. It'll work until it tries to write to a particular sector, which then kills it dead.

The only other possibility is a loose connector to the disk inside the unit. Apparently that can happen. Open it up and have a look.
posted by bonaldi at 1:18 PM on June 27, 2006

I ran the iPod diagnostic and it comes out as fine, restored numerous times (HFS), including PC format (FAT) and have run Disk Utility and a PC disk check as well. Everything has come up with no issues (bad sectors etc).

Yeah, but they don't really test reading and writing files, just the general integrity of the disk. You need a new hard disk.
posted by cillit bang at 1:33 PM on June 27, 2006

If it was the hard disk, and he installed a new one (bigger even), how would he reinstall the necessary iPod software to make it work normally again? Just iPod restore? Is the OS in the iPod's motherboard?

I ask because I have a 4G iPod as well and would love to know what to do in this case. Apologies for piggy-backing, but I figure the more info. in this thread, the better.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 1:37 PM on June 27, 2006

I had the same thing happen with mine, and was able to talk the Apple Store guy into giving me the "bad battery" price for a replacement. It still sucked to have to replace it, but it was fairly cheap, at least.
posted by COBRA! at 1:40 PM on June 27, 2006

SeizeTheDay -- check out this tutorial
posted by junkbox at 2:13 PM on June 27, 2006

That's beautiful. Thanks a million, junkbox.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 2:18 PM on June 27, 2006

I guess most people would suggest ebay for a replacement HD?
posted by Napierzaza at 10:51 PM on June 27, 2006